Dimitri Payet left West Ham United to return to Marseille in January 2017.
Payet left West Ham for his former club Marseille in January 2017 for a transfer fee reported by The Guardian to be worth £25 million.
The 30-year-old attacking midfielder was an instant hit in the Premier League when he arrived at the Hammers from Marseille in the summer of 2015.
Since the departure of the France international from the London club in January 2017, the Hammers have struggled.
West Ham are in Premier League relegation zone at the moment and have just replaced Bilic with former Manchester United, Everton and Sunderland manager David Moyes in an effort to move the team up the league tale.
Former Chelsea midfielder Townsend believes that the Hammers’ current problems all originate from the departure of Payet from West Ham in January 2017.
Townsend said on The Monday Night Club show on BBC Radio 5 live on Monday evening (7:10pm, November 6, 2017): “I personally put it all back to that Payet situation.
“They had a special player there and for whatever reason that guy left the club and he left in such a bad way, in such bad fashion that they never ever seemed to recover from that.”
“I don’t want to frighten West Ham fans, but that analogy with Villa, I think, is one to take on board,” added Townsend during the show (07:16pm).
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